Shade's Orphan
by Robbo the Fantasia '92
Summary: Prequel to Shade's Children as the first child to escape the Dorms finds the Sub and Shade. Lots of comedy. Read and review please. Proper Chapter Four is up. I need at least two more reviews before proper Chapter Five goes up.
1. Chapter 1

Shade's Orphan

Chapter One: The First Escapee

At the time of the Change, every one was afraid. Most of the old people had vanished without a trace. So when the mysterious men arrived with the strange segmented carriages, the children would be obliged to get in. The strangers were safe looking, and to gain the children's trust, they took care of every child. That is, until their fourteenth 'Sad Birthday'. Soon after the strangers arrived, the Meat Factory was constructed.

The Meat Factory was a terrifying image in people's minds. Their imaginations could conjure up gruesome images of brain-removals and muscle de-stringing. But the creatures that came out of the Meat Factory were even more terrifying. Every child in the Dorms was afraid of growing up to die. Any child who learned the truth would whisper the rumours to their friends, until it spread through the entire Dorms. The older children would do anything to escape, but they were either never presented with that chance, or they were swiftly caught.

However, there was hope for some children. Certain children had developed Change Talents; special abilities that would help them with their struggle for survival. Be it prophecy, telekinesis (to a certain extent) or levitation, each and every Change Talent had a purpose and a usefulness. The certain children with these Change Talents had a better chance of escape, but very little knew about the Tracer implanted in the children while they were sleeping, and none knew about the Tracer Key which could de-activate the Tracer. For the first child ever to successfully escape the Dorms, though, the Tracer was not a problem.

Jack didn't expect to be able to escape. It was a month after the Change and he was twelve years old before he realised he had a Change Talent. It happened by accident, but Jack will never forget that day...

It was a sunny, September morning, and all of the boys in Dorm Res-Ang1 were on their way to an English lesson. As he walked, Jack felt an electric shock surge through his body. Unusually, it didn't hurt. It just left a tingling feeling all over his body. The Myrmidon Master leading the group glanced back, and noticed that Jack had disappeared. Puzzled, the Myrmidon Master summoned some Trackers to search for him. Every boy was confused as to what the Trackers were meant to be used for, as they could still see Jack.

The confusion and puzzlement increased when the Trackers could not smell his scent. As this was a once-in-a-lifetime event, the Myrmidon Master stayed put, unsure of what to do. The Trackers fanned out, desperately trying to sniff out Jack. The Overlord of Black Banner soon noticed the commotion, and strode over to the Myrmidon Master. The creature quickly explained:

" Ocre-Noki-Enga Mira-Igan-Sep-Sep-Igan-Noki-Gan,"

The Overlord nodded his head in comprehension, and watched the Trackers trying in vain to catch a scent.

Unexpectedly, the tingling feeling over Jack stopped. The next few moments travelled past in a flurry; the Trackers peeped their found prey whistle, and the Overlord and Myrmidon Master jumped back in surprise at the sudden appearance of the boy. The Overlord shook and scratched his head in puzzlement. He could not believe the fact that a harmless human boy had vanished without a trace, then mysteriously reappeared out of thin air. He told the group to carry on to their English lesson.

" What do you think happened?"

It was night, and the boys of Res-Ang were discussing their English lesson.

" Personally, I reckon that the creatures and the Overlord couldn't see something," whispered a boy.

" But what couldn't they see?" answered another.

" Me," said Jack.

The boys gasped and then muttered among themselves about this startling statement.

" What makes you think they couldn't see you?"

" Didn't you see them? They jumped back in surprise, and stared at me. I'm telling you, I turned invisible," said Jack confidently.

" Then how come we could all see you? You didn't turn invisible for us!" piped up a smaller boy.

" I don't know. I honestly don't know…" wondered Jack.

A year later, filled with rumours and mutterings, told him everything. He needed to escape within a year, or he'd be sent off to the Meat Factory. And he wasn't going to die under a surgical knife. Jack knew of a few children who had refused to get on the segmented buses, who themselves knew of secret hiding places. Jack planned to escape the Dorms, to join the outside children in their safe havens. What he didn't know, was how he was going to be able to do it.

" Something's wrong with us," said Jack, " and it's not letting us escape,"

" I've given up, Jack," replied his best friend, Rick, " I'm tired of this life. The only way to escape the Dorms is to not go there in the first place. Look where we are, Jack,"

Jack stared at Rick. It was not like him to give up. For all of his life, Rick had never willingly passed over anything. Now it seemed like he was at breaking point.

" This isn't you, Rick. It's this place. We're going to escape this god-forsaken place, I swear, and meet the people on the outside. Think about it. The end of creatures patrolling us. The start of a better life. Think, Rick, think,"

Three weeks later, they were ready to go. Jack, Rick and three other friends were prepared to act out their radical plan. Hannah, George and Sarah knew the risks and the consequences, but they could not be persuaded to stay at the Dorms. Their chance came at night, as the afternoon provided a startling breakthrough.

" We can leave tonight, Rick," Jack quickly muttered over lunch.

" Really? What's happened?" asked Rick curiously.

" I've found out something important. Remember what I told you, three weeks ago?"

" You said something's not letting us get outta here, right?"

" They've got Tracers in us, Rick,"

" Tracers? What are they doing in us? Where are they? I'll rip them out of my own butt if I have to!"

" I don't know where they are and I don't know what they're doing in us, but I do know this…They don't matter. I-" Jack stopped and leaned in closer to Rick, " I can make myself and anything I touch invisible,"

Rick leaned out, squinted at Jack, and said:

" I swear you're winding me up."

" No, it's true! I could sneak everyone out of here tonight, it would be easy!"

" If that is true, and that's a big if, then well done mate. I'll tell the rest,"

Jack woke the others soon after midnight. Each of them creeped through the Dormitory until they were at the door. They each laid a hand on Jack's shoulders as he could feel the harmless shock run through him again.

" Ready?" asked Jack.

" Ready," they mouthed back.

They all tiptoed down the corridor, past the snoring Myrmidon Master, under the Dormitory arch until they were in the Dormitory grounds. The fences rose up, seeming to want to keep the captives captive. The fences had very small chinks, and so would be difficult to scale. But it was the fences, or risk running into Ferrets.

" This'll be damn hard to climb," stated Hannah bluntly.

" 'Specially as we have to keep touching Jack," added George.

" Nothing else is going to work," said Sarah, " Might as well get on with it,"

" Yep. Nothing for it," said Rick.

And so they started to climb.

1 Myrmidon Battlespeech. A lost document of translation has been provided


	2. Chapter 2

Myrmidon Battlespeech Alphabet

This alphabet is designed to help with Myrmidon Battlespeech translations to English to make more sense of the story Shade's Orphan. Feel free to skip ahead to the story.

Ang A

BrenB

Cil C

DakD

EngaE

FinF

GanG

HeraH

IganI

JaxJ

KrilK

LomaL

MiraM

NokiN

OcreO

PixP

QuerQ

ResR

SepS

TineT

UngiU

VigaV

XenoX

YunY

ZewZ


	3. Chapter 3

Shade's Orphan

Chapter Two: Creatures Abound

Climbing the fence was a difficult task to accomplish, but it was the massive fences or take the risk of meeting Ferrets, Watchwards, Drones, awake Myrmidons and god only knows what else. Half-way up, Sarah stopped for a breather.

" Whew. This is harder than I thought," wheezed Sarah.

" It only gets harder from here on out," remarked George.

" Don't look down. It helps," added Hannah.

Sarah, like all human beings, looked down and immediately wished she hadn't. The fences were 100 feet high, and Sarah could feel the contents of her lunch rising.

" Ugghh, I don't feel so good," moaned Sarah.

Holding onto the fence with one hand, she held her stomach with the other and heaved, splattering the fence with undigested carrots, beef and mash potato. Having taken her hand off Jack, the Dorms flew into chaos.

Watchwards, suddenly aware of Sarah, rushed to the bottom of the fence. Quickly, one raised a mind-call to its head to warn the Overlords of the attempting escapee. A shrill and piercing scream could be heard, meaning to wake sleeping Myrmidons in the distance quickly, but it was still loud enough to cause Sarah to put both hands to her ears. It was a long way down.

" No! " cried Rick, desperately trying in vain to hold on to Sarah's legs.

" Sarah!" screamed Hannah.

" Aaaaggghhh!" gasped Sarah.

She tried to grab onto the fence again, but only succeeded in breaking her fingers. She cried again with pain, and flipped over in mid-air, to see the ground rushing up too quickly to meet her.

She was lucky. Amazingly, she managed to fall on the Watchward with the mind-call, landing in a crumpled heap of broken bones, blood and ichor on the ground. She was winded, and didn't have the strength to manage more than a few shuddering breaths as the creatures advanced on her.

" We have to get her back," said George.

" How are we supposed to get her fifty feet up and in serious danger from being spotted?" asked Jack.

" She's my friend! If you're not going back, then I am!"  
And with that, George started to climb down much quicker than he climbed up. He jumped the last ten feet, then rugby-tackled the Watchward nearest Sarah. The Watchwards, now aware of another escapee, retreated urgently back to their posts as Myrmidons armed with net guns were seen in the distance. Jack wondered about the possible outcomes, then made up his mind.

" I'm going back too," said Jack, starting to clamber down.

" What?" asked Hannah, following him.

" I can still feel that tingling feeling. It makes me and anything I touch invisible. The Myrmidons can't shoot what they can't see," replied Jack with confidence.

" I'll be waiting here for you," said Rick.

Jack was about to argue, but thought better of it. Rick usually got what he wanted. If he said he was staying, he was staying.

" All right," remarked Jack.

" Hold onto me," Hannah said suddenly.

" What?"

" Hold onto me. I can feel something…I think I can jump this," replied Hannah.

" Are you crazy! We're a FIFTY FEET UP!" asked Jack, staring at her unbelievingly.

" Just don't let go," answered Hannah. She reached across, grabbed Jack by his shirt, and then leaped up another five feet, letting go of the fence. Jack cried out as they went tumbling down.

" IDIOT!"


	4. Chapter 4

Shade's Orphan

Chapter Three: The End Is Nigh

Hannah was strangely calm as they fell. She seemed confident of something, but Jack couldn't tell. He was too busy thinking of how smashing into the floor from fifty feet up would feel. At the last moment, Jack shut his eyes, bracing himself for impact…

It never came. Hannah bent her knees as she touched the ground, landing softly and with cat-like grace and agility. She deftly tossed Jack behind her and joined the fray with George. After he had recovered from the shock of being alive, Jack ran to Sarah, and under cover of the confusion lifted her over his shoulder. He realised that there was no chance of climbing the fence while Sarah was injured. He looked up to the fence where Rick was. He wasn't there.

" Damn it Rick, where did you go?" muttered Jack under his breath. His immediate problem, though, was with the Myrmidons net guns. He staggered under Sarah's weight over to where Hannah and George were furiously pummelling the fleeing Watchwards.

" Hold onto me," said Jack quickly.

" Where?" asked Hannah and George in unison.

" Anywhere, I don't care!" shouted Jack urgently.

Taking note of this, Hannah held onto his hair while George grabbed his belt.

" Not there," said Jack exasperatedly.

They both held onto his arm, but not before pulling his hair and yanking his trousers up.

" Aaaaahhhh! Thanks a lot, _friends_," remarked Jack in a high voice.

" Where to now?" asked George.

" Away from the Myrmidons," replied Hannah.

They all walked quickly away from the marching Myrmidons. They needn't have bothered, though, for to them nothing was wrong. Just a fault on the Watchwards' behalf. They decided to execute the 'crazy' Watchwards. Breathing heavily under Sarah's weight, Jack and co. made for the fences again, till he realised Rick wasn't there anymore

" Rick isn't there," said Jack.

" Where could he have gone? Why did he just decide to bail on us? We're his friends," said Hannah.

" I don't know, but we better get out of here," replied George.

"Yeah," agreed Jack, turning to leave. As they walked to the gates, Jack asked, " By the way Hannah, what the hell was with you when you jumped off the fence?"

" I dunno. I kind of felt a…tingling feeling. It was fantastic. I felt like I could jump off a skyscraper and barely break a sweat," answered Hannah.

" That's what I feel when I turn invisible! D'you think there's a connection?"

" I think we're going to get found out if we don't move it!" interrupted George.

Slowly they staggered over to where the Front Gate must be, and where their chances of freedom waited.

And it was just their luck that the Front Gate was open.

"H-hoo-hooray!" gasped Jack. Carrying Sarah had left its mark on Jack, leaving him out of breath, sore and very sleepy. He barely knew how he had managed it, but managed it he had. Now, with the Front Gate open, Jack was very relieved.

" I don't like this, Jack." said George suspiciously.

" What now?" asked Hannah exasperatedly.

" We escape the Dorms, narrowly escaping capture and death; the alarms have gone off, which will have woken every Myrmidon here, and the Front Gate just happens to be open?"

" It's funny how those things happen, innit?" said an unknown voice.

Everybody looked around worriedly. They hadn't heard of any Myrmidons that spoke English, but nobody was really sure if the Overlords were human or not; that worried them, and the three conscious friends looked around frantically for the owner of the voice.

"Don't worry, I'm not here to kill you, disembowel you, slice you up, behead you or gruesomely take all of your organs to make a Frankenstein-style freak. Yet," said the voice again.

Hannah couldn't help it, but curiosity got the better of her.

" What's Frankenstein?"

" You'll know it soon enough." answered the mysterious voice. Its owner stepped out of the shadows behind them.

" I'm here to help."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Four: Unexpected Help

" WAAAAAAHHH!" exclaimed Jack, as he noticed the stranger standing right behind him, barely an inch away, and inadvertently woke Sarah up. Everybody stared at their welcoming ragamuffin, who seemed quite pleased with himself, heaven knew why. He was about 14, the age when the Myrmidons would take him to the Meat Factory. Obviously, he had lived outside of the Dorms all of his life, or he wouldn't have the confidence to speak so freely.

"Hey, hey, hey! It's just me! A human, not some freakish creature," replied the stranger. A closer look revealed he had a very freckly face, with dark hair but a beaming smile, and green eyes. However, his hair was matted with dirt and he looked as if he hadn't seen a bar of soap since the Change.

"Where… are we? asked Sarah weakly.

" At the Front Gate, where you have the luxury of it being open, and for the first time in your lives you have the chance of freedom!" answered the stranger.

" Who are you?" asked Hannah.

" How rude of me! I'm Nathaniel, Nathan for short," replied Nathaniel. " It's a terrible name, I know, but I hope you'll like me for my personality, not my name." At least Nathan seemed friendly.

" So you opened the Front Gate for us?" asked George.

"Mmm? Oh, yes, the Front Gate. That was me." said Nathan, who had been absent-mindedly looking at the sky.

" Beautiful night, innit? 'Course, what with the Overlords keep changing the weather all of the time, you don't get too many nights like this." commented Nathaniel, who was staring at the bright stars and the wonderful crescent moon

The four stared at him incredulously.

" Right! I say that we get the hell out of here!" said Jack.

" Excellent idea! I have the perfect place for you to stay. I only hope we don't meet any Ferrets or, God forbid, Overlords, along the way," said Nathan.

" Which way?" asked Hannah urgently.

" Erm…Err…" said Nathan thinking aloud, looking at the roads beyond the Front Gate. " Aha! Thatta way!" exclaimed Nathaniel, pointing to the road that lay straight ahead.

So Jack and his friends, accompanied by Nathaniel the helpful stranger, headed towards their freedom, outside of the Dorms and the Meat Factory, to where a true life awaited them.

They found Rick's corpse slowly being devoured only a few miles from the safe place. Evidently, he had managed to climb over the fence, and run away far from the Dorms, only to meet his doom, which was a passing Ferret that easily overpowered him. The group stumbled upon this horrific discovery unexpectedly, and had to quickly move out of sight before the feasting Ferret added more humans to its menu. Each of them were sickened and silently mourned the loss of their friend. However, Nathaniel muttered quietly under his breath, " We will remember him."

Eventually, the Ferret drained Rick of all of his blood, and left the carcass in search of more fresh victims. Jack, with tears pouring down his face, ran over to Rick's body, and hugged it tightly. Rick, his best friend, dead. What hurt Jack more was that Rick had only been a few miles away from safety, after climbing over the fence, avoiding most creatures, only to die at the last hurdle.

" Come on," whispered Nathan.

" I don't want to leave my friend!" shouted Jack in reply.

" Bring his body if you need to, but I think that your other friends would very much like to get away from the creatures. We have to go now."


End file.
